


Stuck

by nakadoo



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-22
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-12-21 00:33:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/893711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nakadoo/pseuds/nakadoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Akihiko who finds you and Ryoji in that awkward situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stuck

You have, on many several occasions, experienced a whole lot of different things with the friends you hold dear ever since moving to Tatsumi Port Island. From emotions flying high, conflicts on beliefs, and even grieving for those you’ve lost to the simple pleasure of sitting around the dorm and just talking about your days or even telling ghost storied (much to Yukari’s chargin and Junpei’s amusement).

None of those situations, however, can compare what you’re currently going through right now.

It had started on a Saturday afternoon, when Ryoji and Junpei came back to the dorm, excitedly talking about who knows what when they noticed you at the back of the kitchen counter making yourself a snack. Junpei had plopped down on one of the stools and announced “dude, you gotta join us!” he was looking at you with that gleam in his eye that said that he’s just discovered the most amazing thing in the universe. 

You stopped making your peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich and looked at him and Ryoji who both looked very excited. In Junpei’s hand, you see a plastic bag with what looked like a DVD but you’re not sure what of. “Is that porn?” you ask nonchalantly, and then go back to spreading strawberry jam. You run your teeth over the braces you got a month ago (because Mitsuru insisted that you get them) and wonder how much longer you have to keep wearing them.

Junpei and Ryoji laugh out loudly, although a little bit awkwardly, and you can’t help but grin at yourself a little.

“No! C’mon dude! I know that we can be a little bit…. Perverted,” Junpei admitted with a sigh. “But that’s not what we bring to you today!” He pulls the DVD out of the bag and proudly shows it off to you. It’s actually a DVD set of three, and it's the first three seasons of Phoenix Ranger Featherman R. “We found it at the strip mall and it was on sale! Can you believe it?” he looks so happy, you almost don’t have it in yourself to call him childish, so you don’t. “And since the exams are done, I think we deserve a break, man!”

“Can we get Ken-kun to watch too?” you ask, since Ken-kun was in the lounge and could probably hear you guys talking. You know he’s a huge fan of that, though he doesn’t like to admit it.

Ryoji pipes in, sitting down on the stool beside Junpei and nods. “Sure! It’s going to be a lot of fun, and the more people we have, the better!” he says, still nodding. He grins at you, showing off the braces he got as well. He got them right after you got yours, saying that his mom wanted him to get them for the longest time but he kept saying no because he didn’t want to be a metal-mouth. But when he found out you got yours, he got excited and here he is now, a metal mouth.

Ken, who did hear the conversation, was blushing the slightest bit and walked over to you guys when Ryoji beckoned him over. “Y-yeah, it’s not like I have much to do today,” he said. When he sees that it's the first three seasons, he gets an excited look in his eyes, almost as bright as Junpei’s look, but he controls himself well. “And, I guess it would be fun to hang out with you guys!”

You like how Ken is mature, but you know for a fact that he has to take the time to be a kid as well from time to time. “So are we having a marathon?” you ask Junpei and he nods again and jumps to his feet.

“Hell yeah we are!” he cheered. Then, he looked at you a little bit apologetically and you raise your eyebrows at him. “Can we watch in your room though? My rooms a huge mess and shit,” he laughs.

“Yeah, sure,” you say.

“Awesome!” he cheers, grabbing Ken by the arm and half drags him to the stairs. “Ken-kun and I will set up the stuff!” he said, letting go of Ken when Ken follows him up the stairs. “You guys go get the snacks! This is gonna be great!” And they disappear up the stairs but you hear their excited footsteps making their way to your room.

You stare at Ryoji. He stares back at you. You stare at your sandwich and shrug, taking it and start to eat.

“Hey! Aren’t you going to make more?” he asks, and he has a bit of a lisp when he talks and its kind of cute. He get’s up on his feet and goes into the kitchen to join you, pulling the cupboards open to check for the snacks that you guys could munch on while watching. There is nothing in the cupboards. “What.”

“We usually eat out,” you explain, “like at Hagakure or something.” You shrug and offer a bite of your sandwich and he does take a bite. “I guess we could go buy junk food or something.”

So the two of you yell at Junpei (well, no, Ryoji did that) to tell him you’d go out to buy some snacks.

You come back at least twenty minutes later with two plastic bags filled with junk food and a third one with strawberry milk and juice packs and soda. You had also passed by Ryoji’s apartment so he could grab a change of clothes and joined Junpei and Ken in your room.

Your two teammates had already changed into more comfortable clothing, so you and Ryoji follow suit and plop down on your bed while Junpei and Ken occupy the futon they laid out on the floor.

“Operation marathon, commence!” Junpei cheered and put in the first disc.

At dinner, Mitsuru and Akihiko had brought home some take out for everyone and your team of four came down from your room looking very much at home. It almost looked like you guys were having a sleep over, and technically speaking, it kind of is.

Yukari makes fun of Junpei while you eat, and Ryoji is shamelessly flirting with Fuuka who doesn’t really get what he’s trying to say. Aigis glares at Ryoji, though she doesn't say a thing because she knows that all of you like him despite her warnings. You know though, that she's prepared to punch his face if she needs to. Ken is talking happily to Akihiko about Featherman and you can see that Akihiko is smiling and happy to see that Ken’s having a good time. 

You ask Akihiko if he wanted to join the marathon. Mitsuru laughs at the way he blushes slightly and scratches the back of his head awkwardly but he agrees.

So when dinner was over and everything was clean, the boys retreated back into your room to continue watching.

More or less, it was a really fun night. 

By the time the clock strikes 11, Ken had fallen asleep on the futon with a half finished can of soda still in his hands and Akihiko declared it a night. He picked up Ken like an older brother would his kid brother and carried him back to his room. The three of you started cleaning up and when your room looked like it was back to normal, Junpei lugged the futon out and said good night.

You stare at Ryoji. He stares at you. You keep staring at him, even as he gets on your bed and under the sheets. He scoots to the side to make room for you and you roll your eyes.

Before you get into bed with him, Akihiko knocks on your door. “Come for a good night kiss?” you tease and he punches your arm lightly.

“It’s almost midnight,” he tells you and peers into your room to see Ryoji rolling around on you bed. “I don’t think he has the potential or anything but I think everything should be fine,” he says and you nod. “If anything comes up, feel free to ask me for help,” he adds before waving you good night.

You turn the lights off and finally join your friend in bed and you two just stare at the ceiling for a while.

“Today was fun,” he says after a while, reaching for the sky like he actually could. “I don’t recall ever attending a sleep over before,” he adds with an amused chuckle.

You turn on your side to face him, but your eyes are closed so you don’t know what face he’s making. “If you keep calling it a sleep over it’ll sound like we talked about boys and painted each other’s nails.”

“We could do that next time,” he says and laughs again. “Can you paint my nails yellow or something?” he asks, and he sounds like he’s being completely curious if you’d do him the favor. “And then I can paint your nails too so they can look like strawberries or something!”

“You’re so weird,” you tell him.

It goes quiet again, him just humming some song you’ve never heard of before. The silence is comfortable and having a warm body beside you this time around is really something that gets you to relax. You scoot closer, close enough that your cheek is resting on his shoulder and he doesn’t say anything and just keeps humming.

He is such a familiar figure to you, that having him here right now feels like it's the most natural thing in the world.

You feel the world shift around you after a while, and you can only assume that the clock has struck midnight. You don’t know why, but you’re not surprised to find him still as a human and not as a coffin. You don’t say anything, and he doesn’t seem to notice the shift in atmosphere.

“Are you still awake?” he asks you and you nod lightly. “I don’t usually fall asleep right away,” he tells you.

“That’s fine,” you say and let out a yawn. “Don’t have school tomorrow anyway.”

“That’s true,” he says. He shifts and you have to pull your cheek off his shoulder but now he’s facing you and you can feel his eyes on your face so you peek one eye open. “I like your room.”

“Oh yeah?”

He nods and moves closer. Your legs are practically tangled with his. “I feel at home here,” he tells you. “I don’t know, is it weird that I feel like we’ve been friend forever?”

“Yes,” you reply and before he can whine about it, you add “but I feel the same.”

That shuts him up and he smiles so brightly at you it almost makes you smile just as brightly back at him.

“Good night, Minato-kun,” he says and the two of you fall asleep ten minutes after that.

When you wake up its 5 am and Ryoji, surprisingly, is also awake.

You two just lay in bed for a few minutes, neither of you talking and just enjoying the warmth of the sun that's slowly leaking into your room through the windows and its really peaceful. Sometimes you wish that the Dark Hour didn’t exist, and days like these could happen more often. Its an idea that makes your heart swell with the foreign feeling of jealousy for those who are unaware of the hidden hour and the battle that you and your friends constantly have to face. Oh well, there’s nothing you can do but keep fighting till its over.

“Do you want to get some breakfast?” Ryoji asks you after a while and you nod, the two of you stumbling out of bed and stretching to go down to the kitchen. You drag your blanket with you, since it’s still pretty chilly and Ryoji squirms under it with you. You’re pretty sure that there’s a box of cereal down there in the kitchen.

It’s only the two of you who are awake, and you sit at the lounge couch with the blanket still over your shoulders as you eat your cereal and watch Sunday morning cartoons on the TV at a quiet volume so you don’t wake anyone up.

“I wish I lived in this dorm with you guys,” Ryoji muses out loud a little later, and it’s around six am by then. He looks a little bit sad. “It’s lonely being in that apartment by myself, but hey! At least I get to see you guys at school practically everyday! And I can always sleep over again if I’m feeling particularly lonely, right?”

Then he makes a face that makes you want to kiss him so he doesn’t feel lonely.

You kiss him. He kisses you back. You keep kissing him, slipping your tongue into his mouth and you shiver when you feel his tongue moving against yours. You lean into the kiss more, as does he, and it’s messy but pleasant and you both have morning breath but you don’t really care.

Then you hear footsteps walking across the 2nd floor hallway and down the stairs, and so does he because you both pause with your eyes wide open and probably thinking the same thing.

You pull away.

But you actually don’t.

You realize with growing horror, as the footsteps come closer and closer, that your braces are tangled with his.

He looks at you like he’s having a panic attack on the inside, and honestly you think you might have one yourself. 

If its Yukari, she might get mad because you know that she likes you more than just friends. If it’s Mitsuru, she also might get mad for PDA. If it’s Fuuka, you might startle her with this. If it’s Ken, you’re not sure you know how to explain to him that you are actually bisexual, and you guess Ryoji is too. If its Aigis, you hope that she doesn't hurt Ryoji too badly. Please, dear god, please don’t let it be Junpei because he will never shut up about it, you just know that he wont shut up about it.

It’s Akihiko, getting ready for his morning jog.

He stares at the two of you like nothing is wrong, but then he sees that your mouth is still touching Ryoji’s and the two of you just really look awkward on the couch.

“Uhm,” he starts and he actually blushes like he’s the one with someone still stuck to him, “am I interrupting something important?” he asks.

You groan and blush as well and wish you could crawl into a hole and never come out.

“We’re stuck,” Ryoji says a little less than enthusiastic as he usually is.

“I can see that,” Akihiko agrees.

Silence.

You want to hit something.

“Senpai,” you say with a bit of difficulty. _“Help.”_

Akihiko seems to understand that yes, you really do need help and tells you to at least put on some shoes. It was really hard to put on your shoes, mind you, but you managed to do it and no one is awake yet so you thank whatever god is watching over you.

Akihiko is at the entrance of the dorm and you see that there’s a cab outside waiting for the two of you and all three of you get in.

After an embarrassing trip to the dentist, Ryoji practically begs Akihiko to keep it a secret and you know that Akihiko probably never intended to tell anyone anyway.

Though by the end of it all, as you ride back home, Akihiko is laughing silently to himself at your expense.

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted boys in braces and awkward first kisses hahahahahaha and also I want them to be happy.


End file.
